


The Long and Winding Road

by orphan_account



Series: Keiths in a Pod [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, hunk will take care of the angry flame son eventually, i hope u guys like him, im on a roll, lance is hard to write tbh, third one in the keiths in a pod series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 21:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7285753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything went black just as he and Red were flung from the Castle of Lions. He doesn't even wake up when they hit the atmosphere of a planet. Hopefully nothing goes wrong while he's out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long and Winding Road

Lance didn't like Keith. Okay, yes, he admired the other pilot's skill in combat and in flight, but he was a bad team player and he wasn't any good at following or remembering orders, and he was reckless in the worst situations. Lance knew he was reckless too, but those were always times when he knew his companions had his back. Keith jumped right into combat without thinking way too often, and it had finally bit him in the ass. Lance would be gloating, except he really really shouldn't be because they were trapped alone on some weird alien planet and Keith was unconscious from that fight with Zarkon. Keith had been the one to object to going and rescuing Allura the loudest, but he went ahead and fought Zarkon on his own like an idiot. He was a big, stupid hypocrite. Is... is this how everyone else'd felt when **he** 'd been unconscious in the cryo-pod? He didn't like it. If only Hunk were here. Hunk could find them food and hug things better and would know what to say to get Lance's mind off of worrying about Stupid Mullet Head and his injuries. It wasn't fair.

It's after he's been standing in Keith's lion for like half an hour, glaring holes into Keith's unconscious skull, that he realizes he needs to find some way to get Keith to safety. The guy's clearly injured, so... gotta pull him up and figure out what to do. He remembers hearing Pidge mention the lions having medpods, so he leaves Keith's to go talk to his own about it. Before he even gets out of the red lion, though, he trips and drops the shorter male out of the lion's mouth onto the ground below. Oops.  
"Crap..." Part of him wants to really curse, but if he starts he'll develop a habit and then **mom would wash his mouth out with soap**. _Again_.  
He drops down and scoops Keith up, and nearly trips from his own momentum. He needs to try not to overcompensate, but Keith is heavyyyyy. Ugh.

"Why do **I** have to take care of Stupid Mullet Head..." He mutters, as he half-carries half-drags the other 16-year-old across the short distance back to Blue. He trips on a tree branch, a rock, and gets startled by some alien birds. Which makes him drop Keith each time. He also just dropped Keith half-way across because his shoulder hurt from supporting the other paladin and he'd forgotten Keith wasn't awake to support himself. One of Keith's arms is weirdly longer than the other, and Lance is pretty sure his shoulder isn't supposed to dip like it is, so as soon as he steps inside his lion he opens his mouth to ask where the medpods are, when lights open up on the floor. He drops Keith in surprise.

He scrambles to pick the other paladin up, mumbling apologies as he does, and follows the lights to Blue's only medpod. He puts Keith in and it turns on immediately, thankfully, so he doesn't have to worry about dropping Keith anymore. All he has to worry about now is... boredom. He has no idea how long Keith is gonna be out of commission, and he's not **any** good at finding food. Which is, of course, when another set of lights pop up on the floor. Lance hadn't noticed until Blue hit him with a panel in the ceiling to make him look down at the floor.  
"Jesus!" He squeaks, but he follows them because Blue wanted him to follow, clearly. Why was his lion so crazy? She didn't have to hit him. Ughhhhh. Stupid Mullet Head. If it werent for Keith he wouldn't be in this situation.

The lights lead him deeper into his lion than he's ever been, into a (!!!) **living area** (!!!) with a **(!!!!!) _kitchen_ (!!!!!)**. Why did nobody mention the lions were like, actual ships with places to sleep? This was valuable information! Oh, the lights're leading him to a cabinet. He ducks to avoid another whack to the head.  
"Hey, hey! I'm going, you don't need to hit me!" He half-yells at the ceiling. The lights all flash warningly, and Lance just huffs in response and opens the cabinet to find stores of food goo. Oh, they can chow on that when Keith gets out of the pod.  
"Do all lions have living areas like this? That's so cool! Does that mean the red one had food too? We'll be good for months!"

Lance scampered back toward Keith's pod with his food goo, and then spotted his own helmet. Keith's had been knocked off at some point and was currently lying in the red lion's cockpit, but... maybe someone was trying to contact them? ...Or maybe he should try contacting someone? He actually wasn't all that good at... medical stuff, and he had this feeling Keith would need help. He didn't like this feeling, but he had it. He pulls on his helmet one handed, and taps the side of it as he speaks.  
"Hey, uh, guys? Can you hear me?" Nothing but static, which had to be from Keith's, back in Red's cockpit. He frowns and pulls off the helmet, before deciding to tweak it like he'd done to some comms back at the Galaxy Garrison. Pidge had been very impressed with the range he'd given the things, so he was sure he- she? they, whatever- would appreciate the new range he'd be giving to his own (and he supposes Keith's too) helmet's comms. If the others show up here, he'll tweak their comms to. Just... open up the side, and poke the wires a bit... move some things... He'd need to jury rig a stereo, did he have any parts?

Blue led him back to the living area, and into a side-room with a bunch of tech. Oh, there's a stereo-looking thing, he just needs to tweak it a bit and he can add it to his helmet. Once that's done, he pulls it back on and tries to contact them again.  
"Testing, testing. Can anybody hear me?"  
" _Lance? Where the hell are you? I don't see you anywhere!_ " Lance grinned.  
"Hunk! Buddy, am I glad to hear you. Keith and I are stranded on some dinky planet in the middle of nowhere, where are you?"  
" _I'm on a planet in the middle of nowhere too! I didn't get a good look at the solar system or anything before I landed, but Yellow needs to sit and recharge for a bit before I go anywhere._ "  
"Aw man, Keith's unconscious over here, if I could I'd come see you! But I gotta keep an eye on the Stupid Mullet Head. Hey, did you know the lions have living rooms and food stores on them? Pidge told us about the medpods, but..."  
" _What, really? Aw man, here I was scouting for fruits that looked edible. I need to go check out Yellow now._ "

Lance laughs, and taps his helmet lightly.  
"Wow, dude. Just... wow. You know, I wonder how close we are?"  
" _We can't be too far, we both fell out of the same wormhole. Everybody else has gotta be around here somewhere._ "  
"I guess. Well, if Keith wakes up soon I'll get him to join me in finding you, yeah?"  
" _You shouldn't push him, Lance. Do you know why he's unconscious?_ "  
"Uhh... no? He was like this when I landed. He crashed first."  
" _He crashed?! Did he have any big injuries?! Is his lion okay?!?_ "  
"Woah, dude, chill, he's fine. Red's fine too, Keith's just got a funky shoulder. I got him in the medpod, he'll be golden in like, a couple days?"

Lance walks back toward the red lion to grab Keith's helmet and tweak it, too. Just in case.  
"Yeah. Anyway, hey, big guy?"  
" _...Lance?_ "  
"Got any advice on what to do while I wait for short, angry, and 80's hair to wake up?"  
" _Keith's not that short, Lance. And you could scout the area? Are there trees or anything nearby?_ "  
"Uh... We're surrounded by trees? We're in a clearning in a forest."  
" _Oh, I'm in a forest too. Maybe we'll be able to see each other soon!_ "  
"Yeah! Probably! See you soon, Hunk!" He crows, and grabs Keith's helmet so he can scamper back to Blue. The comm sparks to life, and Hunk makes a surprised noise.  
"Sorry, bro, that's just me messing with Keith's helmet. Don't worry about it."  
" _Oh._ "

He's been tinkering with Keith's helmet with input from Hunk for a couple hours now, when there's a hiss and the medpod blooms open like a weird alien freeze-flower. Lance drops Keith's helmet and pulls off his own (while Hunk's like " _What was that??_ "), to talk at Keith. He gets in front of the red paladin just in time for Keith to pitch forward, so he has to help him stand up. Which isn't as bad as earlier, because Keith's supporting some of his own weight, but Lance still has to shift Keith up his shoulder a bit.  
"Uh... Dude? Wow, you're actually really hot. Are you sick? Should I stick you back in there?" Keith doesn't respond, just sort of leans into him limply. He's... really obviously out of it.  
"Dude?"


End file.
